50 Books Challenge 2024 Part Nine

[Southeastdweller]

Welcome to the ninth and final thread of the 50 Book Challenge for this year, possibly the shortest thread in the twelve years the other 50 Books Challenge threads have been going.

The challenge was to read fifty books (or more!) in 2024, though reading fifty isn't mandatory. Any type of book can count, and please try to let us all know your thoughts on what you've read.

If possible, please can you embolden your titles and maybe authors as well of books you've read or going to read? It makes it much easier to keep track.

Some of us bring over to the new thread lists of the books we've read so far, but again - this is your choice.

The first thread is here, the second one here , the third one here, the fourth one here , the fifth one here , the sixth one here , the seventh one here and the eighth one here .

@ClaraTheImpossibleGirl The Ballad of Smallhope and Pennyroyal was a bold for me, I absolutely loved it.

Just made it with my final book of 2024, which I finished reading ten minutes ago!

None of This is True - Lisa Jewell. Domestic noir novel set in a few years ago in north London. Josie is a 45-year-old part-time seamstress, married to a man significantly older, she decides to change the course of her life in her 45th year. Alix is a podcast host and comes into her life at just the right time and she seems to be the perfect person to help Josie share her secrets. Alix and Josie’s lives become intertwined in more ways than one, culminating in a chilling crime. I thought this was a bit overlong and would have been more effective with some more twists, but on the whole it was absorbing and enjoyable, and this is one example (I could mention many more) of a book I've read and liked that I wouldn't have picked up if it hadn't been recommended on here, so thanks for that.

My list (214 books including some short stories) - not sure how my formatting will come out though - have bolded 4.5 star ratings and might have revised a couple upwards

1. Anne Enright, The Wren, The Wren
2. Nancy Spain, Poison for Teacher
3. Nicole Flattery, Nothing Special
4. Richard Osman, The Last Devil to Die - reviewed 17.01.24
5. Elizabeth Wein, White Eagles - reviewed 08.10.24
6. Elizabeth McKenzie, The Dog of the North
7. Jennifer O'Connell, Everything I Needed to Know About Being a Girl I Learned from Judy Blume
8. Colm Toibin, The Shortest Day
9. Rachael English, Whatever Happened to Birdy Troy?

10. Walter Mosley, The Awkward Black Man 11. Louisa Waugh, Meet Me in Gaza 12. Alix E Harrow, The Six Deaths of the Saint 13. Adelle Waldman, Help Wanted 14. Daniel Rachel, Don't Look Back in Anger: The Rise and Fall of Cool Britannia 15. Natasha Walter, Before the Light Fades: A Memoir of Grief and Resistance

16. Emily Gunnis, The Girl in the Letter

17. Jo Thomas, Finding Love at the Christmas Market

18. Mourid Barghouti, I Saw Ramallah

19. Jean Kwok, The Leftover Woman

20. Henrietta McKervey, Violet Hill

21. Pip Williams, The Bookbinder of Jericho

22. Aingeala Flannery, The Amusements - reviewed 17.12.24

23. Jean Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea

24. Margaret Kennedy, The Feast

25. Viv Groskop, Au Revoir, Tristesse: Lessons in Happiness from French Literature - reviewed 17.09.24

26. Alice Hoffman, The Bookstore Sisters - short story

27. Kate Clayborn, The Other Side of Disappearing

28. Sarah Watling, Tomorrow Perhaps The Future: Following Writers and Rebels in the Spanish Civil War - reviewed 10.11.24

29. Simon Brett, An Amateur Corpse

30. Kirsty Gunn, My Katherine Mansfield Project - reviewed 21.12.24

31. Val McDermid, Still Life

32. Joanna Wallace, The Dead Friend Project

33. Fannie Flagg, The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion

34. K M Peyton, Flambards Divided

35. Martin Edwards (editor), Crime on the Move

36. Alice Hoffman, Everything My Mother Taught Me - short story

37. Jane Gardam, The Queen of the Tambourine

38. Aube Rey Lescure, River East, River West

39. Tayari Jones, An American Marriage

40. Naomi Alderman, The Future

41. Otto Penzler (Editor), The Lineup: The World's Greatest Crime Writers Tell the Inside Story of Their Greatest Detectives

42. Luci Adams, It Must Be True Then

43. Isabel Allende, Lovers at the Museum - short story

44. Peggy Frew, Hope Farm

45. Elena Ferrante, The Lying Life of Adults

46. Richard Thompson, Beeswing: Fairport, Folk Rock and Finding My Voice, 1967-75

47. Lara Thompson, One Night, New York

48. Margaret Atwood, Cut & Thirst - short story

49. Patrice Lawrence, Splinters of Sunshine

50. Rachel Khong, Real Americans

51. Ruth Thomas, Super Girl

52. Monica Ali, Love Marriage

53. Diana Tutton, Mamma

54. Nina Stibbe, One Day I Shall Astonish the World

55. Frances Brody, A Mansion for Murder

56. Jane Cholmeley, A Bookshop of One's Own: How a Group of Women Set Out to Change the World

57. Heather Clark, Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath

58. Isabella Hammad, Enter Ghost

59. Jami Attenberg, I Came All This Way to Meet You: Writing Myself Home - reviewed 17.12.24

60. Laura Kay, Making It

61. Lindsey Davis, Time to Depart

62. Georgina Hammick, The Arizona Game

63. Hisham Matar, My Friends - reviewed 13.09.24

64. Francesca Hornak, Seven Days of Us

65. Daphne Du Maurier, My Cousin Rachel

66. Jennifer Weiner, Golden Hills - short story

67. Stef Penney, The Beasts of Paris

68. Elizabeth McCracken, The Giant's House

69. Molly Clavering, Because of Sam

70. Monique Roffey, The Mermaid of Black Conch

71. Naomi Klein, Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World - reviewed 18.06.24

72. Robin Stevens, First Class Murder

73. Sally Franson, Big in Sweden

74. Xochitl Gonzalez, Anita De Monte Laughs Last

75. Suzannah Dunn, Levitation for Beginners

76. Lea Ypi, Free: Coming of Age at the End of History - reviewed 19.11.24

77. Sue Grafton & Otto Penzler (editors), The Best American Mystery Stories 1998

78. Elin Cullhed, Euphoria

79. Fredrik Backman, Britt-Marie Was Here

80. Mary Cadogan and Patricia Craig, You're a Brick, Angela: The Girls' Story 1839-1985

81. Lauren Farnsworth, The Lonely Hearts Quiz League

82. Rebecca K Reilly, Greta & Valdin - reviewed 10.06.24

83. Ian Rankin, The Rise - novella

84. Wilkie Collins, The Moonstone

85. Katy Watson, Seven Lively Suspects

86. Colm Toibin, Long Island - reviewed 18.06.24

87. Louise Welsh, The Second Cut

88. Francesca Reece, Glass Houses

89. Marina Warner, Inventory of a Life Mislaid: An Unreliable Memoir

90. Linda Newbery, The Key to Flambards

91. Niamh Mulvey, The Amendments

92. Ursula Owen, Single Journey Only: A Memoir - reviewed 08.10.24

93. Kate Atkinson, Normal Rules Don't Apply

94. Lynne Reid Banks, The L-Shaped Room

95. Emma Steele, The Echoes of Us

96. Andrew O'Hagan, Caledonian Road

97. C J Carey, Widowland

98. Tessa Hadley, Late in the Day

99. Liv Constantine, Everywhere You Look - short st ory

100. Penelope Mortimer, The Home

101. Charlotte Wood, Stone Yard Devotional - reviewed 13.10.24

102. Leila Mottley, Nightcrawling

103. Daisy Dunn, Not Far From Brideshead: Oxford Between the Wars

104. Nita Prose, Murder at the Royal Ruby - short story

105. Elizabeth Macneal, The Burial Plot

106. Sarah Moss, My Good Bright Wolf: A Memoir

107. Sara Wheeler, Glowing Still: A Woman's Life on the Road

108. Carol Birch, Shadow Girls

109. Lizzie Skurnick, Shelf Discovery: The Teen Classics We Never Stopped Reading

110. Evie Wyld, All the Birds, Singing

111. Marian Keyes, Again, Rachel

112. Daisy Buchanan, Pity Party

113. Robin Stevens, Jolly Foul Play

114. C J Sansom, Lamentation

115. Emily Usher, Wild Ground

116. Ed McBain & Otto Penzler (editors), The Best American Mystery Stories 1999

117. A S Byatt, The Virgin in the Garden

118. Kate Glanville, The Cherry Tree Summer

119. Avril Horner, Barbara Comyns: A Savage Innocence

120. Jessica Anthony, The Most

121. Jo Thomas, The Honey Farm on the Hill

122. Monisha Rajesh, Around the World in 80 Trains, A 45,000 Mile Adventure - reviewed 23.12.24

123. Alice Hoffman, The Bookstore Wedding - short story

124. Carol Atherton, Reading Lessons: The Books We Read at School, the Conversations They Spark and Why They Matter

125. Elizabeth Hay, Late Nights on Air

126. Tracy Chevalier, The Glassmaker

127. Kristin Hannah, The Women

128. Catherine Carswell, Open the Door!

129. Elly Griffiths, The Man in Black & Other Stories

130. Peter May, The Black Loch

131. Silvia Moreno-Garcia, The Lover - short story

132. David Nicholls, You Are Here - reviewed 30.09.24

133. V V Ganeshanathan, Brotherless Night

134. Olga Wojtas, Miss Blaine's Prefect and the Weird Sisters

135. Caryn Rose, Why Patti Smith Matters - reviewed 18.10.24

136. Caitlin Davies, The Ghost of Lily Painter - reread, previously reviewed 22.06.11

137. Sinéad Gleeson, Constellations: Reflections from Life

138. Mai Senaar, They Dream in Gold

139. A J Pearce, Mrs Porter Calling

140. Della Cai, Central Places

141. Lissa Evans, Small Bomb at Dimperley - reviewed 05.11.24

142. Mark Hodkinson, No One Round Here Reads Tolstoy: Memoirs of a Working Class Reader

143. Michelle Magorian, A Little Love Song

144. Cheryl Strayed, Two Women Walk Into a Bar

145. Barbara Nadel, Belshazzar's Daughter

146. Kate Glanville, The Peacock House

147. Clare Chambers, Shy Creatures

148. Lorrie Moore, I Am Homeless If This is Not My Home - reviewed 01.10.24

149. Eva Dolan, Tell No Tales

150. Attica Locke, Guide Me Home

151. Elaine Farrell and Leanne McCormick, Bad Bridget: Crime, Mayhem and the Lives of Irish Emigrant Women

152. Rory Cellan-Jones, Sylvia, Me and the BBC

153. Orlaine McDonald, No Small Thing

154. Jim Kelly, At Death's Window

155. Pete Brown, Clubland: How the Working Men's Club Shaped Britain

156. Lisa Kleinholz, Exiles on Main Street

157. Helen Taylor, Why Women Read Fiction: The Stories of Our Lives

158. Jane Thynne, Midnight in Vienna

159. Kate Johnson, Hex Appeal

160. Elizabeth Harrower, The Watch Tower

161. Maggie Shipstead, The June Paintings - short story

162. Alan Hollinghurst, Our Evenings

163. Tsitsi Dangarembga, Black and Female

164. Lauren Elkin, Scaffolding

165. Nelson De Mille & Otto Penzler (editors), The Best American Mystery Stories 2004

166. Jenny Colgan, Class

167. Diana Anyakwo, My Life As a Chameleon

168. Harriet Baker, Rural Hours: The Country Lives of Virginia Woolf, Sylvia Townsend Warner and Rosamond Lehmann

169. Rachel Kushner, Creation Lake

170. Phoebe MacLeod, The Do-Over

171. Robert Harris, Imperium

172. Robin Stevens, Mistletoe and Murder

173. David Lodge, Quite a Good Time to be Born: A Memoir 1935-1975
     175. Buchi Emecheta, Second Class Citizen

174. Cheryl Strayed, This Telling - story

175. Charlotte Betts, The Italian Garden

176. Sally Rooney, Intermezzo

177. Kate Atkinson, Death at the Sign of the Rook

178. Antonia Fraser & Victoria Gray (editors), The Pleasure of Reading: 43 Writers on the Discovery of Reading and the Books That Inspired Them

179. Georgina Clarke, Death and the Harlot

180. Christine Dwyer Hickey, The House on Parkgate and Other Dublin Stories - reviewed 29.10.24

181. Amor Towles, Table for Two

182. Tracy Farr, The Life and Loves of Lena Gaunt

183. Angela Carter, Nights at the Circus

184. Roxane Gay, Graceful Burdens - short story

185. Christy McKellen, About Last Night
     188. Christine Dwyer Hickey, Our London Lives

186. Xiaolu Guo, A Lover's Discourse

187. Craig Cabell, Ian Rankin and Inspector Rebus

188. Stephanie Butland, Lost for Words

189. Diane Abbott, A Woman Like Me: A Memoir

190. Katy Watson, A Lively Midwinter Murder

191. Pat Barker, The Voyage Home

192. Sally Bayley, The Green Lady: A Spirit, A Story, A Place

193. Rowan Coleman, River Deep

194. J Courtney Sullivan, The Cliffs

195. Caoilinn Hughes, The Alternatives
     199. Emma Smith, Portable Magic: A History of Books and Their Readers

196. Lindsey Davis, A Dying Light in Corduba

197. Langston Hughes, Not Without Laughter

198. Sefi Atta, The Bead Collector

199. Beth O'Leary, Swept Away

200. Elif Shafak, There Are Rivers in the Sky

201. Jocelyn Playfair, A House in the Country
     206. Michelle Magorian, Impossible!

202. Tony Travers, London's Boroughs at 50

203. Maxine Morrey, Reach for the Stars

204. Scott Turow & Otto Penzler (editors), The Best American Mystery Stories 2006

205. Meron Hadero, A Down Home Meal for These Difficult Times

206. Sarra Manning, The Rise and Fall of Becky Sharp

207. Richard Osman, We Solve Murders

208. David M Barnett, The Little Christmas Library

209. Elvis Costello, Unfaithful Music and Disappearing Ink

Are we having a new thread for tomorrow @Southeastdweller or continuing with this one? I don’t want to lose you all.

New year new thread 🙂

Hopping back on before the very end after a truly awful year of reading.

I managed a paltry 24 books with one of those being a third read of Terry Pratchett Small Gods

My list, for what it is worth is here:

1. The Furthest Station - Ben Aaronovitch
2. Guards, Guards - Terry Pratchett
3. Eric - Terry Pratchett
4. Paper Cup - Karen Campbell
5. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban- JK Rowling
6. Moving Pictures - Terry Pratchett
7. The Rise (SS)- Ian Rankin
8. A Short Stay in Hell - Steven Peck
9. Reaper Man - Terry Pratchett
10. The Marriage Portrait - Maggie O’Farrell
11. Witches Abroad - Terry Pratchett
12. 1984 - George Orwell
13. The Cracked Mirror- Christopher Brookmyre
14. Our Hideous Progeny - CE McGill
15. The Voyage Home - Pat Parker
16. The Fascination - Essie Fox
17. The Ghost Ship - Kate Moses
18. Weyward - Emilia Hart
19. Shrines of Gaiety - Kate Atkinson
20. Soul Music - Terry Pratchett
21. Men at arms - Terry Pratchett
22. Queen Macbeth - Val McDermid
23. The Maiden - Kate Foster
24. Small Gods (3rd reread) - Terry Pratchett

I had so many false starts that I completely lost my groove and ended up giving up. I have downloaded the unadventurous but always satisfying Odyssey as balderdash it may be, I am wholly entertained

happy Hogmanay, 50 bookers

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie wins the thread with that limerick. Very nicely done. Happy new year, everyone - you're all wonderful and I have thoroughly enjoyed hanging out with you here and (in some cases) in real life this year.

It's a bit ironic to make my first post on the 2024 threads in 2025, but wanted to put this here so as not to sully the 2025 thread! Truly a terrible year which can absolutely get in the bin, but reading this thread has kept me sane in many ways

Somehow I read 88 books in 2024 but looking back over the list of titles, I'm shocked at how many I remember literally nothing about :o

So if there's a NYR it's to read better books. I always try to not buy any books for at least January as well, so that's two things, and that's enough

Thank you all for this brilliant thread, as so many here say, the best corner of the internet. The last minute swerve into limerick land was brilliant :)

very happy new year to you all!

Full and final 2024 list

1. Identity - Nora Roberts
2. Nightwork - Nora Roberts
3. Chances - Freya North
4. Whatever it Takes - Adele Parks
5. Pretty Girls - Karin Slaughter
6. The Great Post Office Scandal - Nick Wallis
7. Politics on the Edge - Rory Stewart
8. Eat Sweat Play - Anna Kessels
9. Stranded (short stories) - Val McDermid
10. Past Lying - Val McDermid
11. Ruth's First Christmas Tree (short) - Elly Griffiths
12. The Crossing Places - Elly Griffiths
13. Let Me In - Claire McGowan
14. Still Life - Val McDermid
15. The Crossing - Mat Brolly
16. The Crow Trap - Ann Cleeves
17. The Maid - Nita Prose
18. Bringing Columbia Home - Mike Leibenhart
19. The Last List of Mabel Beaumont - Laura Pearson
20. A Memoir of my Former Self - Hilary Mantel
21. The Sense of an Ending - Julian Barnes
22. The Secret Barrister
23. The Time Traveller’s Wife, Audrey Nifenegger
24. I Have Some Questions for You - Rebecca Makkai
25. See Them Run - Marion Todd
26. The Premonition - Michael Lewis
27. In Dark Water - Lynn McEwan
28. Dead Man Deep - Lynn McEwan
29. The Girls of the Glen - Lynn McEwan
30. The Gathering Storm - Lynn McEwan
31. Empire of Pain - Patrick Radden Keefe
32. The Strawberry Thief - Joanne Harris
33. Scoops - Sam McAllister
34. Royal Road to Fotheringhay - Jean Plaidy
35. Sing You Home- Jodi Picoult
36. The Captive Queen of Scots - Jean Plaidy
37. Mother Tongue - Bill Bryson
38. Act of Oblivion - Robert Harris
39. Elephants Can Remember - Agatha Christie
40. Westwind - Ian Rankin
41. 1979 - Val McDermid
42. The Dubrovnik Book Club - Eva Glyn
43. After that Night - Karin Slaughter
44. Triptych- Karin Slaughter
45. Blindsighted - Karin Slaughter
46. Kisscut - Karin Slaughter
47. 1989 - Val McDermid
48. Sisterland - Curtis Sittenfield
49. Broken - Karin Slaughter
50. Meet Me at the Museum - Anne Youngson
51. The Last Widow - Karin Slaughter
52. Skin Privilege - Karin Slaughter
53. Rizzio- Denise Mina
54. A Faint Cold Fear - Karin Slaughter
55. Medea - Rosie Hewlett
56. Depp vs Heard - Nick Wallis
57. The Secret of Villa Alba - Louise Douglas
58. Yellowface - Rebecca F Kuang
59. The Bernini Bust - Iain Pears
60. Giving Up The Ghost - Hilary Mantel
61. Girl A - Abigail Dean
62. All Fours - Miranda July
63. Under Her Roof - A A Chaudhuri
64. Just Another Missing Person - Gillian McAllister
65. Indelible - Karin Slaughter
66. Faithless - Karin Slaughter
67. Fractured - Karin Slaughter
68. Three Women - Lisa Taddeo
69. Wish you were here - Jodi Picoult
70. Genesis - Karin Slaughter
71. Power Trip plus new epilogue - Damian McBride
72. Over My Dead Body - Maz Evans
73. Vanishing Acts - Jodi Picoult
74. The Summer of Lies - Louise Douglas
75. Sister in law - Harriet Wistrich
76. None of This is True - Lisa Jewell
77. The Tenth Circle - Jodi Picoult
78. Mythos - Stephen Fry
79. Wifedom: Mrs Orwell’s Invisible Life - Anna Funder
80. Breaking the Dark - Lisa Jewell
81. Who’s That Girl - Mhairi McFarlane (re read)
82. You Belong With Me - Mhairi McFarlane
83. An Officer and a Spy - Robert Harris
84. Rodham - Curtis Sittenfield
85. The Flower Girls - Alice Clark-Platts
86. Day One - Abigail Dean
87. The Cracked Mirror - Chris Brookmyre
88. The Turning point - Freya North
89. The End of Us - Olivia Kiernan
90. My Favourite Mistake - Marian Keyes
91. Alison Wonderland - Helen Smith
92. The Girl in the Ice - Robert Bryndza
93. Whatever You Love - Louise Doughty
94. The Burning - Jane Casey
95. Then She Was Gone - Lisa Jewell
96. Other People’s Husbands - Elizabeth Noble
97. A Colossal Failure of Common Sense: The Incredible Inside Story of the Collapse of Lehman Brothers - Larry McDonald and Patrick Robinson
98. Birnam Wood - Eleanor Catton
99. The Abortionist’s Daughter - Elizabeth Hyde
100. Failed State - Sam Freedman
101. The Definitive Guide to the Menopause and Perimenopause - Louise Newsom
102. The Hand That First Held Mine - Maggie O’Farrell
103. The Janus Stone - Elly Griffiths
104. Hercule Poirot’s Silent Night - Sophie Hannah
105. The House at Sea’s End - Elly Griffiths
106. A Room Full of Bones - Elly Griffiths
107. Fallen - Karin Slaughter
108. Criminal - Karin Slaughter
109. Conversations with Friends - Sally Rooney
110. The Truth About Melody Browne - Lisa Jewell
111. Breathtaking - Rachel Clark
112. Dear Coca-Cola: The Timewaster Letters - Terry Ravenscroft
113. Marple - various (12 short stories)
114. Mad Honey - Jodi Picoult
115. Unseen - Karin Slaughter
116. Blue Machine - Helen Czerski
117. The Kept Woman - Karin Slaughter

DNF: The Bat, Jo Nesbo

And I have already read my first book of 2025 😀

Happy new year all 🍾 🎉

www.mumsnet.com/talk/what_were_reading/5242090-50-books-challenge-2025-part-one

lol Thank you 😂

Jane Eyre was my favourite,

They are books I expected to enjoy but loathed.

Happy New Year, with hopes for an excellent reading year for everyone.

My main book-related resolution is mostly to read a bit less, and do more other things in the evenings (maybe even some housework ), but I suspect it won't last!

See you all over on the other side of new year posting mania.

Leaving my final list of the year here and will then do a summary for the highlights thread.

1. Trust - Hernan Diaz
2. The Mysterious Affair at Styles - Agatha Christie
3. Ruin Beach - Kate Rhodes
4. Hamnet - Maggie O'Farrell
5. Northanger Abbey - Jane Austen
6. Snow - John Banville
7. The Golden Mole - Katherine Rundell
8. The God of Small Things - Arundhati Roy
9. Hostage - Clare Mackintosh
10. One Enchanted Evening - Katie Fforde
11. The Secret Adversary - Agatha Christie
12. The Bandit Queens - Parini Shroff
13. How it all Began - Penelope Lively
14. Pulse - Felix Francis
15. Where Angels Fear to Tread - E M Forster
16. Politics on the Edge - Rory Stewart
17. The Mystery of the Blue Train - Agatha Christie
18. False Colours - Georgette Heyer
19. Jane and Prudence - Barbara Pym
20. Crisis - Felix Francis
21. The Scapegoat - Daphne du Maurier
22. Burnt Island - Kate Rhodes
23. Pulpit Rock - Kate Rhodes
24. Judgement Day - Penelope Lively
25. The Murder at the Vicarage - Agatha Christie
26. The Cleaner of Chartres - Sally Vickers
27. Queens of the Age of Chivalry - Alison Weir
28. Guilty Not Guilty - Felix Francis
29. Devil's Table - Kate Rhodes
30. The ABC Murders - Agatha Christie
31. Tackle - Jilly Cooper
32. Berlin Game - Len Deighton
33. The Chateau - William Maxwell
34. The Trial - Robert Rinder
35. Iced - Felix Francis
36. The Trio - Johanna Hedman
37. Girl - Edna O'Brien
38. Fallen Angel - Chris Brookmyre
39. And Then There Were None - Agatha Christie
40. In Memoriam - Alice Winn
41. Hands Down - Felix Francis
42. The Painter's Daughters - Emily Howes
43. The Secret Hours - Mick Herron
44. Consequences - Penelope Lively
45. No Reserve - Felix Francis
46. Polo - Jilly Cooper
47. Spinning Plates - Sophie Ellis-Bextor
48. Taken at the Flood - Agatha Christie
49. A Catalogue of Catastrophe - Jodi Taylor
50. Henry VIII : The Heart and the Crown - Alison Weir
51. Death in the Spires - K J Charles
52. The Brutal Tide - Kate Rhodes
53. Mexico Set - Len Dighton
54. London Match - Len Deighton
55. Knife - Salman Rushdie
56. The Midnight Feast - Lucy Foley
57. Dead Man's Folly - Agatha Christie
58. Poor - Katriona O'Sullivan
59. The Quiet Gentleman - Georgette Heyer
60. The Bee Sting - Paul Murray
61. Emily - Jilly Cooper
62. Spiderweb - Penelope Lively
63. The Enchanted April - Elizabeth von Arnim
64. Hickory Dickory Dock - Agatha Christie
65. Yellowface - Rebecca Kuang
66. Water - John Boyne
67. Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont - Elizabeth Taylor
68. A Spy Alone - Charles Beaumont
69. Unbreakable - Ronnie O'Sullivan
70. By the Pricking of my Thumbs - Agatha Christie
71. The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox - Maggie O'Farrell
72. The Stalker - Kate Rhodes
73. A Civil Contract - Georgette Heyer
74. I Will Greet the Sun Again - Khashayar J Khabushani
75. Sea of Memories - Fiona Valpy
76. Spy Hook - Len Deighton
77. The Third Girl - Len Deighton
78. Earth - John Boyne
79. Enter Ghost - Isabelle Hammad
80. Men Without Women - Ernest Hemingway
81. Bella - Jilly Cooper
82. When the Dust Settles - Lucy Easthope
83. Elephants can Remember - Agatha Christie
84. Slow Horses - Mick Herron
85. Dead Lions - Mick Herron
86. Conclave - Robert Harris
87. The Ballad of Smallhope and Pennyroyal - Jodi Taylor
88. Real Tiger - Mick Herron

Morning! I don't know how I've never seen these threads before, but I've been challenging myself to read 50 books a year for the past few years - never achieved it yet, finished 2024 on 17 which is terrible, normally I'm 30+.

Had hoped to finish Red Seas Under Red Skies last night, but it got to 1.30am and I was at 97%, but I had to get to bed.

Will move to the 2025 thread now!

Richard Osman, The Last Devil to Die
2024 #4 Read 26.12.2023 - 10.01.2024
Reviewed 17.01.2024

Set just after Christmas, the fourth episode of The Thursday Murder Club series begins with the murder of a man who ran a local antiques shop, Kuldesh Sharma. Kuldesh was a friend of Elizabeth's husband Stephen, so naturally the Thursday Murder Club can't resist investigating, despite being asked/told not to by a number of police officers. The local police detectives. Chris and Donna, also series regulars, are also trying to investigate, but a team from the National Crime Agency headed by Jill Regan appear to take over the case, and their office. And there are also a range of career criminals keen to find out about what happened to Kuldesh, or to the box of heroin that had found its way into his hands.

Like the earlier books in the series, this was an entertaining, funny read, and I really enjoyed spending time with all the regular series characters and some newer ones. Often the story is far fetched, sometimes preposterously so, but I don't think Richard Osman ever pretends he's aiming for realism in his plotting. The characters, though, have come to seem very real over 4 books. I also enjoy the way this series mixes together so many cliches from several different crime fiction subgenres and plays with them. The setting and some of the characters suggest a cosy series, then there are police detectives of a rather maverick police procedural type. But the hard drugs, the blurred ethical lines, the career criminals, many of the twists and turns in the plot and some significant moral ambiguity are some of the elements more often associated with noir crime fiction. And then there's a personal story about the difficult decisions facing a long married couple as they age, bringing some real sadness in as well as the laughter.

This was previously billed as the last book in the series, but Richard Osman says that although he is stepping away from the retirement village to introduce some new characters in his next novel, there will be more from the Thursday Murder Club too. I'm looking forward to meeting his new characters as well as seeing the Murder Club and their friends again.

Rating: 4.1

Hello all, I very much fell off the thread, but here's my 2024 list - I think!

1 The Trial – Rob Rinder
2 The Generation Divide: Why we can’t agree and why we should – Bobby Duffy
3 The Fell – Sarah Moss
4 Impossible Creatures – Katherine Rundell
5 Over Sea Under Stone – Susan Cooper
6 Greenwitch – Susan Cooper
7 The Grey King – Susan Cooper
8 Silver on the Tree – Susan Cooper
9 Orlando – Virginia Woolf
10 Liza’s England – Pat Barker
11 Winter – Ali Smith
12 Farewell Fountain Street – Selcuk Altun
13 Hungry – Grace Dent
14 The Shadow Murders – Jussi Adler-Olsen
15 The Wayward Bus – John Steinbeck
16 My Dark Vanessa – Kate Elizabeth Russell
17 Giving Up the Ghost – Hilary Mantel
18 Spook Street – Mick Herron
19 The Waves – Virginia Woolf
20 At Freddie’s – Penelope Fitzgerald
21 Before the Queen Falls Asleep – Huzama Habayeb
22 The Progress of a Crime – Julian Symons
23 Death of a Lesser God – Vaseem Khan
24 Giovanni’s Room – James Baldwin
25 Green Dot – Madeleine Gray
26 Family Politics – John O’Farrell
27 The Five – Hallie Rubenhold
28 London Rules – Mick Herron
29 The Brightest Night (Wings of Fire 5) – Tui T. Sutherland
30 Joe Country – Mick Herron
31 Spring – Ali Smith
32 Yellowface – Rebecca F. Kuang
33 Sidesplitter – Phil Wang
34 Slough House – Mick Herron
35 Bad Actors – Mick Herron
36 The Girls in the Wild Fig Tree – Nice Nailantei Leng’ete
37 8 Lives of a Century-Old Trickster – Mirinae Lee
38 A Month in the Country – J. L. Carr
39 The Letters Volume IV: 1929 – 1931 – A Reflection of the Other Person – Virginia Woolf
40 The Truths We Hold – Kamala Harris
41 The Chinese Maze Murders – Robert van Gulik
42 Summer – Ali Smith
43 Virginia Woolf (vol 2) – Quentin Bell
44 Wifedom – Anna Funder
45 Past Lying – Val McDermid
46 The Wind Through the Keyhole – Stephen King
47 L’Etranger – Albert Camus
48 Patchwork – Ellen Banda-Aaku
49 Night Waking – Sarah Moss
50 Traces – Patricia Wiltshire
51 Maskerade – Terry Pratchett
52 The Marrying of Chani Kaufman – Eve Harris
53 Mayflies – Andrew O’Hagan
54 How to Say Babylon – Safiya Sinclair
55 The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra – Vaseem Khan
56 The House of Mirrors – Erin Kelly
57 Clara’s Daughter – Meike Ziervogel
58 Mongrel – Hanako Footman
59 Frankie – Graham Norton
60 Rivals – Jilly Cooper
61 Johnson at 10 – Anthony Seldon and Raymond Newell
62 The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years – Shubnum Khan
63 The Lido – Libby Page
64 The Outrun – Amy Liptrot
65 The Dark is Rising – Susan Cooper
66 The Burning – Jane Casey
67 The Raging Storm – Anne Cleeves

I have failed to review I think the last 5 books on my list so very quick catch-up reviews below!

63 The Lido – Libby Page

This undemanding "feelgood" novel is set amongst the community of cold water swimmers at Brockwell Lido, where I have been swimming since September. The writing style was a bit stilted for my taste, but I liked the central relationship between shy journalist Kate and 80-something Rosemary. And it's always nice to read something where you recognise the locations.

64 The Outrun – Amy Liptrot

A bit more cold water swimming in this one, but it's mainly about Liptrot's journey from alcoholism in hedonistic London to sobriety via the Scottish islands where she grew up. It resonated because I'd been spending a lot of time with someone who'd been burning the candle at both ends a la Edna St Vincent Millay at the time I read it. The nature writing is beautiful and much of the imagery has stuck in my mind.

65 The Dark is Rising – Susan Cooper

My annual re-read. Still fabulous.

66 The Burning – Jane Casey

Saw this in the deals and snapped it up in view of favourable reviews on this thread! I like Maeve Kerrigan and had to stop myself buying loads of others on the back of it! I will ration them.

67 The Raging Storm – Anne Cleeves

The latest Matthew Venn. A famous round the world sailor who has returned to his childhood haunts is found dead in a dinghy in a sheltered cove. Enjoyably complicated plot although the ending was a bit far-fetched. I like this series and the Devon setting, but not as much as the Vera series. Fortuitously, the latest Vera came into the deals today - but I'm saving it for a bit!

Right, jumping over to the other thread now!

@Welshwabbit the film of The Outrun is well worth watching as well with some beautiful underwater footage of seals by Raymond Besant.

Elizabeth Wein, White Eagles
2024: #5 Read 13.12.2023 - 10.01.2024
Reviewed 08.10.2024

Like several of Elizabeth Wein's earlier novels, White Eagles is a historical novel written for teenagers, about a young female pilot's adventures during WWII. However, it is part of a series published by Barrington Stoke, of stories written to interest teenagers but in simpler, more accessible language, for an audience with literacy difficulties such as dyslexia.

Poland, 1939: twin siblings, Leopold and Kristina are trained pilots, and work teaching others to fly. Then Germany invades, war breaks out and they are called up. Within a few weeks she has to escape the Nazis and fly to a safer place.

This is a much shorter novel than the previous books I have read by Elizabeth Wein, in simpler language. But it is an exciting story with appealing characters, difficult decisions and dramatic tension.

The author's afterword mentions that some of this story was based on the experience of a real young Polish woman, Anna Leska.

Glad to see your positive review of The Lido, @Welshwabbit . My local bookshop once suggested it when I asked for a recommendation for a gift for ‘an elderly neighbour who likes Jeffrey Archer and doesn’t like swearing’. Imagine my sentiments when I was given it some time later by a different friend! Perhaps after your review I will dust it off and give it a chance.

I have read several more critical reviews of it! And it's definitely "gentle" so I see why your bookshop recommended it for your neighbour! I think I may have viewed it more favourably than others because it's connected to "my" swimming pool! But definitely not a chore to read, for me anyway.

Just updating with my final book of 2024 which I finished a couple of days ago but didn't get round to reviewing

90. Rivals by Jilly Cooper Continuing my Rutshire re-read. I never used to be overly keen on this one but having watched the tv adaption it's definitely grown on me and I do love Rupert and Taggie's storyline.

My aim this year was 70 so I've gone well beyond that. Not sure whether to be super ambitious next year and aim for 100 or keep it lower. I'm going to do the read christie challenge again but apart from that will try to keep my book buying to a minimum as my tbr is already at nearly 300 books!

Thanks for another fab year on these threads all and will see you over on the 2025 one

2024 #22

Aingeala Flannery, The Amusements
Read 17.01.2024 - 18.02.2024
Reviewed 17.12.2024

The Amusements is an episodic novel, composed of linked short stories, set in Tramore, a very small seaside town in County Waterford, Ireland, over a 30 year period. Some stories are first person narratives, and others are told in a more distanced third person, linked by recurring characters, connections and estrangements, and themes of the beginnings and ends of friendship, loneliness, addiction, escape and return.

Helen and Stella meet at school and and share artistic talent and ambitions. But Helen's working class mother expects her to leave school and get a job. Her dad wants to help her but is struggling with his own problems. Stella should have been going to the posher convent school, and they are pulled apart by parental snobbery and disapproval. Years later, will they even remember things the same way? Can she escape the stifling town where if girls make a single mistake, they are stuck with the loss of reputation and the negative labels forever? Or will she stay trapped?

Other stories focus on Stella's mother and sister, on the man who runs the caravan site, on a family on holiday, on others returning to town from wherever they escaped to for a wedding or a funeral or to visit family, on a tatty hotel.

This is beautifully written, and I want to reread and try and see further connections between the stories, between the pieces of the whole.

Rating: 4.7

I rated The Lido really highly when I read it in 2018 - my memory is that it was quite lightweight but very enjoyable. I think also liked it because it was about women campaigning to save a public service they valued, in this case their swimming pool. As I've been involved in several such campaigns (libraries, children's centres, education), I really identify. I've continued to buy Libby Page's books when they come up as Kindle deals, and her 4th book, The Lifeline, features Kate from this book.